Dvorak vs. Qwerty

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by dbguy

V1.2 Aug 5, 2006 10:57:10 PM

`Dvorak vs. Qwerty' is a keyboard usage meter. It measures how many centimeters you have to move your fingers from the default touch typing positions to type certain piece of text. Hopefully this tool will help people realize that Dvorak keyboard layout is superior to the older Qwerty.

Update 0.2.1: Fixed a problem in the widget file (some users had problems installing the widget) and added some UI functionality.

Comments 29 posts

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Key distance is an important measurement for how fast you can type with one finger. A low distance measurement would clearly demonstrate that Dvorak is more efficient in areas where single-finger typing is common, such as mobile devices and virtual keyboards.

However, for all those with 10 working fingers working at a desktop computer with a full keyboard, the most important thing for speed typing is being able to swap between fingers for each subsequent character. Preferably also to switch between hands. Of course, this would require subsequent characters in a word to be on opposite sides of the keyboard, which would incorrectly imply a greater travel distance, even though you're not really traveling, simply switching between your hands and fingers.

By contrast, a short travel distance implies you're making multiple presses with the same finger, which is both inconvenient, and significantly slower. Just as a short demonstration, compare how long it takes you to type "qwerty" on a qwerty keyboard with a single finger, compared to using all 10. Despite the short distance traveled between keys, parallelism wins every time.

By SlugFiller , # May 13, 2011 2:48:31 PM

Dvorak is older than Qwerty. Qwerty is made to slow down writing on writing machines

By senja1 , # Mar 15, 2011 11:56:27 AM

it wil be my fortune if i happen to have it. a lot of thanks to you for this nice favour.
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By iyinet , # Sep 7, 2010 11:01:52 PM

To all complaining about not being able to configure keyboard keys for games, checkout AutoHotkey.

You can remap the keyboard keys awsd to whatever you want extremely easy.
If you need any help with that, my screen name is the same at the autohotkey forum.

By codybear , # Aug 13, 2010 11:55:05 PM

very interesting!!!
thanks

By jerirash , # May 10, 2010 3:32:43 PM

lol...QWERTY FTW!!

By smestad1 , # Mar 28, 2010 11:03:19 PM

Type this

Dvorak Fails Badly!

results;

Qwerty:6.8
Dvorak:10.3 cm

Conclusion
Qwerty Wins For Ever!

By MaxwellMiller , # Mar 12, 2010 5:14:52 AM

very interesting! ... and of course, qwerty is better than dvorak

By Laptopuri , # Jan 15, 2010 11:48:19 AM

I wouldn't mind using this program if it wasn't for the fact that at my job, I CAN'T program the keyboard to DVORAK, it stays QWERTY, so... but cool idea

By CSIShadow , # Jun 29, 2009 8:42:26 AM

I wouldn't mind using this program if it wasn't for the fact that at my job, I CAN'T program the keyboard to DVORAK, it stays QWERTY, so... but cool idea

)

By CSIShadow , # Jun 29, 2009 8:41:38 AM

in reality, this tool is more of a sales pitch to convince ppl dvorak is better. not actually "useful" in and of itself. not syaing i dont love it tho =)

i have familiarized wtih dvorak, even tho i was on my qwerty crutches. i am now dedicated to training myself to become proficient with dvorak. ... UNLESS... u could easily change the code to games and such to receive ",aoe" input instead of "wasd" input...

sometimes, you need to use the wasd keys so i am kinda forced to hold on to qwerty and be bilingual... kinda like how i am forced to keep the empirical system around rather than going fully to metric system.

By gwho , # Apr 4, 2009 2:52:22 AM

It would be interesting if you put the following keyboard layout too:

k , u y p w l m f c
o a e i d r n t h s
q . ' ; z x v g b j

It's a layout evolved through a genetic algorithm (that is, a very simple artificial intelligence method). I am curious to see that layout against DVORAK and QWERTY.

For more detaisl, see the link below:

http://www.boingboing.net/2002/07/06/hyperevolved-keyboar.html

that's actually a pretty logical way to find out the best layout. *interesting to note many similiarities between that and the dvorak.

-one tihng i notice is the u is on the top row for the left hand. this way all the vowels are in position w/o having to move like you have to in ordre to type the letter "i" in the dvorak setting...

IS there a program where u can customize your keyboard layout?? now THat would be one helluvah useful program

By gwho , # Apr 4, 2009 2:48:34 AM

As expected from testing this, the Dvörak is no better than the Qwerty keyboard. But that's to be expected, I'm left handed, the Dvörak is designed for wronghanded (righthanded) people; the claims of "superiority" are anecdotal at best, and closer to a myth.

The whole reason for the qwerty keyboard was to slow typists; the machining on first typewriters was so poor that it was necessary.

http://www.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/keys1.html

As well, the only major "study" on the alleged "superiority" if the Dvörak layout was done by Dvörak himself, a man who patented the keyboard and was trying to sell it for profit to the US military. (Conflict of interest? What's that?)

The best keyboard is the one that works for you. The Qwerty is superior for lefthanded people: it is not only faster, it enables one-handed typing for righthanded mouse manipulation, something righthanded people *can't* do.

check ur windows and for dvorak key settings, u can toggle between left handed dvorak and right handed dvorak. either way, qwerty is by far way inferior to dvorak in efficiency.

By gwho , # Apr 4, 2009 2:46:05 AM

this is a interesting tool, although how far my fingers move is less important to me then the fact that my wrists hurt much less since converting to dvorak two years ago.

By digrizster , # Dec 3, 2008 4:49:03 PM

Nice. Why not we just move to Dvorak and leave Qwerty. At the start will decrease our typing speed but then back to normal then faster with Dvorak. Like you change the way you use your keyboard from 4 finggers to 10 finggers.

By mafatih , # Nov 22, 2008 5:02:55 AM

Hi!

Very good widget!

It would be interesting if you put the following keyboard layout too:

k , u y p w l m f c
o a e i d r n t h s
q . ' ; z x v g b j

It's a layout evolved through a genetic algorithm (that is, a very simple artificial intelligence method). I am curious to see that layout against DVORAK and QWERTY.

For more detaisl, see the link below:

http://www.boingboing.net/2002/07/06/hyperevolved-keyboar.html

Best Wishes!

By Nosophorus , # Nov 5, 2008 5:16:57 AM

very useful tool

By animamia , # Sep 6, 2008 11:49:23 AM

thanks

By gigipro , # Sep 4, 2008 2:06:27 PM

In response to Bob Dog: There are several different Dvörak layouts, including a left handed one. There are also 2 layouts designed for people typing with one hand only.

Noting that the distance travelled by your fingers was not the major, or at least the only concideration when designing the keyboard layout - there was also coniderations about making comonly typed combinations like th, sh, ers more natural - for instance with QWERTY when typing fast 'the' is often misspelt 'teh'.

One more note on the so-called battle between dvörak and qwerty, the fact that you have on one hand a keyboard designed for comfort, and on the other one which owes a major part of it's layout to being able to spell "typewriter" on one row should give a hint.

By Agouti , # Aug 6, 2008 4:47:26 AM

daretoeatapeach: "I would like to see a program, widget or otherwise, that would allow one to switch quickly from Dvorak to qwerty quickly within the Windows GUI."

All versions of Windows since Windows 3.1 (I believe) - certainly Windows XP - ALREADY have this! Enable the language bar and you can switch layouts with a mouse click.

Check out http://www.typocheck.co.uk/dvorak/switch.html , for instance.

By typocheck , # Sep 24, 2007 3:22:19 PM

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